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Welcome to episode 1 !
In this episode you’ll hear:
- What is Age Planning?
- The Road to Age Planning
- How I help guide people/families through Age Planning
What is Age Planning?
Taking the leap on this podcast has been a long time coming for me and I’m so excited to now have the clarity on it all and get to it!
Before I dive into sharing the real life stories and solutions of families that I’ve worked with or talked to in the past, I want to give a bit of a definition to what AGE PLANNING is, because it’s a term you’re going to hear a lot on this podcast.
The definition of Age Planning that I usually give people is – the act of intentionally and proactively planning in your 60s and 70s for your 80s, 90s, and beyond.
Jess Davis
However, it is NEVER to early to start Age Planning. In every decade of our lives, we should be planning for the next one:
- physically with movement
- mentally with stress reduction and boundaries and pleasure
- financially planning
- environmentally knowing where we want to be living or adjusting the place that we will continue to live
All of these things can be considered Age Planning, no matter what age you are. It’s just planning for your future age and what needs or considerations that age will bring.
But of course, I focus on the eldest years, so when I refer to AGING in this podcast, I’m talking about the retirement aging years – your 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond.
And in my framework of Age Planning, we plan from a holistic perspective, so in all aspects of life.
I call this framework The Wheel of Holistic Aging, which if you can picture a circle with 8 pie slices (so looks like a wheel) the 8 pie slices represent the 8 Elements of Aging.
The 8 Elements of Aging are Physical, Mental, Nutritional, Environmental, Social, Spiritual, Purposeful and Financial.
I have a mini-course on this called, THE AGEUCATION MINI-COURSE. It goes through the Age Planning frameworks I’ve created and gives you a look into how beneficial Age Planning will be for your family.
Jess Davis
You need to plan for all 8 Elements as you age because they all impact one another.
If the needs of one Element are not met, then that lack will impact other elements within your life.
And we create OPTIMAL AGING when all 8 Elements are being considered and planned for. I often say Age Planning will create the balance that is Optimal Aging.
The Road to Age Planning
We actually have to be ‘primed’ and ready to Age Plan to truly do it from a place of awareness and intentionality.
And this sense of being ‘primed’, I explain with another framework I created called The Road to Age Planning, which is also fully expanded and explained in THE AGEUCATION MINI-COURSE.
In a nutshell though, it explains how we move through different stages and experiences in life that are either preparing us to plan for and enjoy aging, or avoid planning and dread aging.
And I think it’s really important to identify not only in yourself, but also in the people around you whom you will be interacting with as you age, how primed and ready you and others are to intentionally Age Plan.
Because you cannot have a productive or effective conversation with someone who isn’t ready to have that conversation.
And I see this happen a lot in families surrounding the topics of aging where one party wants to have an open, honest and productive conversation, but the other party just completely shuts down and refuses to discuss a certain topic.
Which often stems from a place of not having fully processed their own thoughts and emotions around aging.
How I Help Guide People/Families through Age Planning
If you’re ever looking for more guidance with the Age Planning process in your family, or with Aging Conversations in your community, this is exactly how I serve people like you.
I offer coaching and consulting to individuals and families who want guided discussions with me, to help map out your family’s aging needs.
I also offer group seminars and workshops on a variety of topics surrounding aging, where my goal is always to leave people with actionable steps to be proactive in planning for aging.
If you’d like a little sneak peak into my frameworks or a baby step into learning more about how I serve people through Age Planning, then you can check out my mini-course called, THE AGEUCATION MINI-COURSE
The course is 6 videos and within those, I start with an ice-breaker that outlines 5 of the top questions people often ask about aging parents, and then it goes into 3 frameworks that I created to give a visual and create a foundation for understanding how to start being proactive and intentional about planning for aging in your family.
Jess Davis
I have 3 reminders before you go –
#1. Go check the show notes for any resources or links I mentioned in this episode that peaked your interested. (I link these directly in the blog above.)
#2. Please share this episode with a friend whom you think it would bless. Because in order for more families to benefit from my Age Planning resources, I need listeners like you to spread the word.
And #3. I would love to hear from you – email me with your thoughts on this episode, or to suggest a topic you’d like to hear on a future episode. Find my email in the show notes.
And remember, we’re all aging. Aging is the same as Living. And it is a privilege to live and to age.
Jess
